World Cup qualifying: Nigeria drawn in group of death

Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria have all been drawn in the same qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup.

With only the winners of each four-team group making it through to the tournament in Russia, Group B – which also includes Zambia – looks to be by far the most difficult section.

Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroon all qualified for the 2014 World Cup but at least two of them will miss out next time after the draw was made at CAF’s headquarters in Cairo on Friday.

The 20 African nations were sorted into five groups for the final stage of qualifying and will play each side in their pool home-and-away over the course of the campaign.

Ghana made it to the last World Cup and they have been drawn in Group E with Egypt, Congo and Uganda.

The other team who qualified last time around were African Cup of Nations winners Ivory Coast, who were drawn with Gabon, Mali and Morocco in Group C.

South Africa and Senegal will go head-to-head in Group D, with Cape Verde and Burkina Faso also in that section, while Group A is made up of Tunisia, Libya, DR Congo and Guinea.

Prior to the draw, respects were paid to former Nigerian manager Stephen Keshi, who passed away earlier this month.

Under the leadership of Keshi, Nigeria were the only African side to make it through the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, losing 2-0 to France in the last 16.